Former Trump White House aide Peter Navarro reported to prison in Florida on Tuesday to begin the four-month-long sentence after he did not show up for a deposition with the January 6 Committee in February 2022.
Before reporting to federal prison in Miami, Navarro, 74, blasted the “partisan weaponization” of the justice system, saying that he had been treated unfairly and targeted for his connections to former President Donald Trump. Navarro has argued that he did nothing wrong and was legally shielded from speaking to the now-disbanded January 6 Committee under the doctrine of executive privilege.
“I’m pissed. That’s what I’m feeling right now,” Navarro said before heading off to prison, according to POLITICO. “But I’m also afraid of only one thing: I’m afraid for this country because this, what they’re doing, should have a chilling effect on every American regardless of their party. They come for me, they can come for you.”
“When I walk in that prison today, the justice system — such as it is — will have done a crippling blow to the constitutional separation of powers and executive privilege,” Navarro added.
Navarro had hoped to avoid prison time while his case went through the appeals process, but his efforts were rejected by the courts, including an appeal to the Supreme Court that was shot down by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Navarro has maintained that he did nothing wrong and was not obligated to meet with lawmakers on the January 6 Committee, which was disbanded after Republicans took control of the House in January 2023. The Department of Justice charged Navarro after Congress voted to hold him in contempt after they subpoenaed him to meet with House lawmakers and produce certain documents that they had requested.
After his conviction in September 2023, he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta and ordered to pay a fine of $9,500 in January. Mehta told the former Trump economic advisor that he was not the “object of a political prosecution” and that “these are circumstances of your own making.”
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“In all of this, even today, there is little acknowledgement of what your obligation is as an American to cooperate with Congress, to provide them with information they are seeking,” Mehta said. “They had a job to do. And you made it harder. It’s really that simple.”
Trump denounced the prosecution and sentencing of Navarro on Tuesday, saying that it was “a disgrace” that he was going to prison. The former president added that Navarro was “a great patriot” who had been treated “very unfairly.”